Day-night Test cricket planned for Australia and New Zealand in 2015

The first day-night match in the 140-year history of Test cricket is set to go
ahead in either Adelaide or Hobart in November 2015

In the pink: the Adelaide Oval where Test cricket will be played after dark and with a pink ball for the first time in its historyPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Telegraph Sport, and agencies

12:53PM BST 30 Jun 2014

Pink balls and floodlights are in the offing for Test cricket next year.

Administrators in Australia and New Zealand have identified their 2015-16 series as a chance to stage the first day-night Test match, in either Adelaide or Hobart.

The break with tradition appears likely to become a reality Down Under next November, with the inaugural day-night match in the near 140-year history of Test cricket.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, reported that bilateral plans between his governing body and New Zealand were at an advanced and encouraging stage.

Sutherland made it clear, however, that neither the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne nor the New Year match in Sydney would be affected, because both are such a success in their traditional time slot, in holiday weeks.

“The challenge is to try to make Test cricket more accessible for fans,” Sutherland said. “We are serious about pushing ahead with the concept of day-night Test cricket. We feel it will only strengthen the position and possibilities for Test cricket in many parts of the world.”

Experiments with the concept of floodlit first-class cricket have been ongoing in recent years.

The MCC has helped to drive forward the innovation by moving its traditional match against the champion county to Abu Dhabi, rather than Lord’s, and playing the fixture partially under lights with a pink ball.The International Cricket Council, too, has long been open to staging day-night Tests when and where appropriate.

Sutherland believes that day-night Test cricket during working weeks presents a new opportunity to attract bigger crowds and television audiences. He said: “We’re not talking about playing the Boxing Day Test or New Year’s Test at night.

“The summer holiday period in Australia really lends itself to Tests, but at other times of the year it can be difficult for fans to attend or watch Test matches.”

David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, said: “The discussion on day-night Tests started in 2008, and I’m pleased that we are now at a stage where two of our members are contemplating playing the first ever day-night Test.”

Meanwhile, Najam Sethi, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, said that his country would earn $450 million (£263 million) in the next eight years, mainly from hosting four series to be played with arch-rivals India.

The potential windfall for Pakistan was made possible after they conditionally agreed to approve an ICC revamp that gives major powers to cricket’s Big Three: India; Australia and England. The shakeup, which Pakistan initially opposed, was formally endorsed at a meeting last week in Melbourne.